Hello, hopefully some one could share some insight.
I have a 2001 Dodge Ram Sport 140K miles currently. was bought in 2004 and the heater will only get warm at best, never has gotten hot since I owned it.
Last summer the Radiator was upgraded to a 4 row and a new dryer was installed on the AC.
Heater core was flushed and no flow problems were noted.
Tempature ***** seems to work, will get cool when **** is turned.
Upper and lower, defrost vents work correctly when selected. you can hear them opening and closing.
AC works perfectly.
Kid of at a loss as to what it is. living in Arizona I dont need heat much, but it would be nice to have.

Thanks Mike.

 

What thermostat do you have? I used to have a 180 and it never got hot enough, switched to a 195 and now it's much better.

 

I do have the 180 in there now to help it circulate more often due to the Arizona heat in the summer, I will switch it back now that I have new radiator in.
Thank You that makes sense, I never thought of that, will post the results.

 

Where did you get a 4-row radiator for your truck? As far as I knew, only a stock 2-row was available.

 

It isnt stock, I had one custom made by a friend.
dont see why they only offer the 2 row though, its a nice upgrade.

 

According to a radiator shop I spoke with, the 2-core is stock because the aluminum construction is more efficient at dissipating heat than brass.

Why did you change out your radiator, anyway? I'm thinking that by going 4-core that you're actually over-cooling the engine, hence why the heat is lukewarm.

 

It was over heating due to being 3/4 of the way blocked by scale and sludge, and from the info I received from some mechanics I spoke to, those years of Dodge have historically had issues with overheating here in the Arizona summers. Possibly because of the Sport Package bumper and grills, I dont know.
Does run on the cool side now and reaches normal tempature even during rush hour and 115 degree heat. that could very well explain why the heater never gets hot.
I guess thats a good trade off though for enduring the heat during the summer. going to switch out the thermostat though.

Thanks.

 

Your issue could also be clogging heater core. If it's damaged you'll have coolant smell and leaking on inside passenger floor and/or engine bay side.

If it's not leaking, then you can just flush it. I'm fairly certain there is a DIY here showing how it's done. Youtube will have some but not specific to the Dodge last a I checked a year ago.

Shop should charge about $60-80 just for flushing heater core.

 

Hmmm... I'd run the engine up to its normal operating temperature and then ten minutes more with the heater set to full hot, floor vent, and the fan one notch down from max. At that point, if the ambient air temperature is above 60F, the outlet air should be within 30 degrees of the temperature of the heater core inlet tube (which can be measured with an inexpensive IR thermometer or a temperature probe on a multimeter). If the outlet air is nowhere near that but there's no coolant flow obstruction, then you've got either a faulty blend door or a rotting heater core. The most common blend door problem in a 2001 Ram is a failed door operator, fixable with a cute little wonder widget marketed under the name "heater treater".

If "no flow problems were noted" was the result of connecting a garden hose from a municipal water tap to the heater core and observing the outlet flow, it was a bogus test. Municipal water supplies typically run at some multiple of the maximum pressure (15PSI, nominal, for our trucks) developed under the radiator cap. This will mask flow obstructions except the very worst of them every darn time.

Or maybe a chupacabra crawled up in there and died in the plenum in front of the windshield and is obstructing intake air flow.

FWIW, my truck spent its whole life until I bought it in the dry air of Las Vegas, NV and the heater core was rotting and delivering almost no heat when I bought the thing in 2010. I flushed the hell out of it, had plenty of clean water flowing apparently freely afterward, but the heat was still not there. My default approach is to verify that the blend door is functioning properly and the inlet air is not obstructed, and if they are then try one thorough heater core flush. If that doesn't work, just bite the bullet and replace the heater core. Works every freakin' time.

 

These trucks are also notorious for getting air trapped in the heater core, which renders it somewhat less than effective.....